Groovy on Grails Hosting

Heartless_King

Heartless_King

Heartless_King

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Joined
17 Jan 2005
Posts
632
Location
London, UK
Hi,

In recent years I've started to use more languages on JVM for my development and move away from languages such as PHP. For my web development work I'm really keen to use Groovy on Grails. However, the one problem I have is hosting.

In the past I've use reseller hosting packages. It allows me to give clients their own accounts and all of the server maintenance is taken care.

Moving towards Java hosting things come a little more difficult. There's not many resellers out there. Therefore I'm writing to get advice from people with a lot more experience. I'm trying to find out what sort of hosting I should be looking for, and if possible any potential candidates.

Simplified requirements:
- Ability to host client websites / applications with their own control panel, multiple domains et.
- Support for JSP, Beans, Servlets, Groovy on Grails
- MySQL / PostgreSQL
- UK host
- Faily priced

Also if possible, but not required:
- Potential support for PHP (would allow me to host projects from the archive :P)

Thanks,
King :)

P.S Someone once mentioned VPS hosting. However, I've never done before, so wouldn't know where to start!
 
Heartless_King said:
P.S Someone once mentioned VPS hosting. However, I've never done before, so wouldn't know where to start!
Click to expand...

With a VPS, you have an entirely separate "virtualized" machine on a hardware node (it's a virtual dedicated server :)). It means you can install whatever you want - from the operating system, to the web server configuration, database, java.... exactly how you want it.

It's slightly more expensive that shared hosting, but i'm not sure you'll really find what you want in the shared hosting market because shared hosting has to cater for the needs of the many, rather than the needs of the few.
 
More VPS information

Thanks for that feedback, and I have to agree it seems the next logical step.

I guess my next questions would be to find out more information regarding VPS. I understand what VPS, I understand that it may cost a little more. However, I would like to ask about the sorts of things I can except from a typical VPS account?

For example, do they come with cPanel, web host manager? Would I have to purchase a license for these? If so how much can I expect them to cost? Back to my original message I would to be able to support multiple domains etc. I guess essentially I would like a shared hosting setup but with the option to support more languages. Can anyone give me more advice?

Thanks for your time,
King.
 
Do you have any experience with Linux? If not it may be worth your while getting a managed VPS.

You can purchase hosting control panels but something like cpanel you don't really want to use a VPS with less than 256MB of guaranteed memory. LxAdmin is free on a VPS which uses HyperVM but is not really a well known panel.

A company I would recommend is www.pcsmarthosting.co.uk
 
What's the difference between managed VPS and VPS?

I would like to confirm that I've used reseller hosting for many years. I currently host a lot of websites for family, friends and client. With my requirements growing (i.e. Java / Groovy) I noticed that to get hosting reseller hosting is a lot harder.

As I've never done VPS, I'm hoping the community can guide me through the changes and reduce any bad experiences. Using Linux should be ok and setting up tomcat / Apache would not be a problem. I guess I'm worried about not being able to create the same experience accounts I'm hosting currently get. With reseller mail and domain management is already setup. CPanel makes life so simple.

Am I right in assuming I would have to setup email, domain management etc myself? What other issues am I not aware of?

Thanks :)
 
You should be able to run cPanel on your VDS. Most VDS providers will be able to provide this on your server for around ~$10 a month.

A managed VDS basically means that your hosting company will manage the server for you. They'll install your software and make sure your server is setup securely.

If it's unamanged, setting everything up and securing it falls to you.
 
As daz says if it is unmanaged then you have to secure it and bascially manager the VPS yourself i.e updates, installing software etc...

If you pick a VPS and also purchase a control panel with it they should install this on the VPS for you.

If you went for a 256MB Unmanaged VPS with Cpanel from Pc Smart Hosting this would cost you £15 a month.

How busy are the sites you run? Are they SQL driven?
 
Ok, thanks for your response. Install software / updates shouldn't be a problem. However, I was wondering if you guys could give me an indication to the sort of things which fall under "security" in terms of managing VPS. Also how do LxAdmin and CPanel compare? (Yes SQL Driven :))
 
Heartless_King said:
Ok, thanks for your response. Install software / updates shouldn't be a problem. However, I was wondering if you guys could give me an indication to the sort of things which fall under "security" in terms of managing VPS. Also how do LxAdmin and CPanel compare? (Yes SQL Driven :))
Click to expand...

Basic stuff would be installing iptables/apf, rootkit, bfd, changing ssh port, root login warning etc....

TBH i really like LxAdmin but i do not resell hosting, i do host sites for people but they mainly just care about ftp access. It's maybe not quite as easy to use or clean cut as Cpanel or DA but it is very light weight. It will run fine on a VPS with 128MB. You have a choice between which web server you wish to use lighthttp or apache.

One thing to remember though is that LxAdmin is only free when the node which your VPS is hosted on uses HyperVM.
 
Although I would be keen to learn I'm not sure if I have enough time to learn all of the various requirements involved in managing a VPS. I guess the hunt begins for a managed VPS? Unless of course the learning curve for managing a VPS is small? I assume cPanel / WHM would take care of most of the usual tasks?
 
Heartless_King said:
Although I would be keen to learn I'm not sure if I have enough time to learn all of the various requirements involved in managing a VPS. I guess the hunt begins for a managed VPS? Unless of course the learning curve for managing a VPS is small? I assume cPanel / WHM would take care of most of the usual tasks?
Click to expand...

If you purchased a Unmanaged a VPS with Cpanel it should work stright out of the box but the problem is if things start to go wrong then your not really going to know where to start. Having a managed VPS will give you this security.

You could purchase an unmanaged VPS have a play and see how you get along?

What is your budget?
 
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